Chatterbox trains and employs refugees as language tutors.

Chatterbox is a London-based social enterprise helping refugee teachers, academics, and professionals rebuild their careers by leveraging their existing aptitude for languages.

Pictured: Syrian dentist and Chatterbox tutor Eiad writes out new vocabulary for his student during an Arabic lesson.

I founded Chatterbox to address the problems my mother faced when we sought refuge in the UK more than two decades ago. An Afghan civil engineer with over a decade of experience in practice, she struggled to find meaningful employment let alone work that valued her skills. As many of us are aware, this story is far from uncommon and will become increasingly important to address.

The widespread exclusion of refugees from the skilled labour market in the UK is both a societal, and economic failure. Despite having higher levels of education and training, refugees are far more likely to experience poverty and deprivation than average. Social isolation, lack of confidence, and widespread discrimination against their overseas work and qualifications results in even those with fluency in English becoming sidelined in the labour market.

Provided with training and paid opportunities as language and cultural instructors, Chatterbox tutors regain professional confidence, local networks, and UK work experience and this jointly elevates their employability. At the same time, our work helps to reduce the language skills deficit costing the UK economy an estimated £48bn a year in missed business opportunities by promoting language learning.

To celebrate the winners of the Nansen refugee award, we’d like to hear your experiences of helping in the refugee crisis. Whether you are a volunteer or work for an NGO, get in touch by clicking the contribute buttons. We’d also like to hear from refugees on their experiences, or from friends and families of those who have done heroic things towards the refugee cause.